Trafford Smith Explained

Trafford Smith, CMG (1 January 1912 – 15 July 1975) was an administrator, diplomat, colonial civil servant, and military lieutenant who served in colonial administration in Malta and Burma.^{[1] [2]}

Smith was educated at the City Boys' School in Leicester and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was the Jeston Exhibitioner and received a first class in both parts of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos. He began his career in the Colonial Office in 1935 and was moved to Fiji in 1938. He was made assistant British Resident Commissioner for the New Hebrides in 1940, and for the British Solomon Islands in the same year and for the Gilbert and Ellice Islands from 1941; and he was secretary of the Soulbury Commission on Constitutional Reform in Ceylon 1944 to 1945.^[3]

He was an assistant secretary in the Colonial Office in 1945 and was in the British delegation to the United Nations, New York, special general assembly regarding Palestine in 1948. He was the Lieutenant Governor of Malta and also served as acting Governor. Following his departure from Malta in 1959, he was an assistant secretary of the Commonwealth Office until 1967, and in that year he served as Ambassador to Burma.^{[4] [5]}

Further reading

• Papers relating to tours of duty in the western Pacific, Ceylon and Palestine, period as Lieutenant-Governor of Malta, 1953–1959, and as Ambassador to Burma, 1967-1970 (ref. MSS. Brit. Emp. s. 530), TWO FAMILY HISTORIES, Mary Isabel Smith
• MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS IN RHODES HOUSE LIBRARY OXFORD, ACCESSIONS 1978–1994, (Oxford, Bodleian Library, 1996).
• Papers of Trafford Smith (1), Paul Davidson Language of description English. Oxford, Bodleian Libraries. shelfmark and folio or page reference, MSS. Brit. Emp.s. 490. Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. GB 161 MSS. s. 530, Dates of Creation, 1953 -1959, 1967-1970
• Letters, programmes of tours, texts of talks and printed material relating to service as an administrator in Fiji and to tours made of the Caribbean andwestern Pacific territories as Assistant Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1938–1966. MSS. Brit. Emp. s. 490.  TwoFamily Histories, by Mary Isabel Smith.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Trafford Smith Tomb With a View. 2020-07-11. tombwithaview.org.uk.
2. Web site: Trafford Smith - National Portrait Gallery. 2020-07-11. www.npg.org.uk. en.
3. Web site: Papers of Trafford Smith CMG - Archives Hub. 2020-07-11. archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk.
4. Web site: Collection: Papers of Trafford Smith Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts. 2020-07-11. archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk.
5. Web site: Home. 2020-07-11. Bodleian Libraries.